Famous British Judges

Carrie Lam is a Hong Kong politician who has been serving as the Chief Executive of Hong Kong since 2017. From 2007 to 2012, she served as the Secretary for Development. From 2012 to 2017, Lam was the Chief Secretary for Administration. A controversial leader, Carrie Lam's administration witnessed the criminalization of the Hong Kong National Party.

William Blackstone was a British politician, jurist, and judge of the 18th century. Best remembered for authoring the Commentaries on the Laws of England, Blackstone is credited with influencing prominent American personalities like Abraham Lincoln, James Kent, Alexander Hamilton, and John Marshall among others. His Commentaries, which were cited often in Supreme Court cases, were repeatedly republished throughout the 1770s.

Jonathan Sumption is a British medieval historian, author, and former senior judge. Between 2012 and 2018, Sumption served as a judge of the United Kingdom's Supreme Court. A former barrister, Jonathan Sumption is well known for his involvement in several legal cases, including the Three Rivers case. 

Edward Coke was an English politician, barrister, and judge. He is regarded as the greatest jurist of the Jacobean and Elizabethan eras. As a barrister, Coke took up important cases like Slade's Case. As a Member of Parliament, Coke campaigned for the Statute of Monopolies 1623. He also played a key role in the passage of the Petition of Right.

Former British Conservative politician Geoffrey Howe was also the longest-serving minister in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet. While he once served as the deputy prime minister of the UK, he is remembered as someone who virtually ended Thatcher’s reign as the prime minister with his resignation over Britain’s European policy.

One of the 10 children of legendary English author Charles Dickens, Henry Fielding Dickens was named after author Henry Fielding. A Cambridge alumnus, he had initially studied math. However, he later took up law and became a successful barrister. He had also been a Liberal Party member.

Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, is a British judge. In 2004, she became the first woman to be appointed as a Law Lord in the House of Lords. In 2017, Brenda Hale became the first woman to serve as the president of the United Kingdom's Supreme Court, a position which she served until her retirement in 2020.

Tom Denning, Baron Denning was a British lawyer and judge. In 1938, Denning was appointed a King's Counsel before becoming a judge in the High Court of Justice in 1944. In 1962, he was appointed Master of the Rolls, a position which he held for two decades. Denning was called the greatest British judge of modern times by Margaret Thatcher.

One of the Founding Fathers of the US, Thomas McKean was the son of a tavern keeper and later became a successful barrister and politician. He simultaneously served in the Continental Congress of Delaware while he was also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

British jurist William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield is remembered for his significant contribution to the English commercial law. He had been the chief justice of the King’s Bench. Though he brough in new reforms in areas of finance, he mostly avoided dealing with issues such as slavery.

English judge David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury was born to a pathology professor and grew up with three brothers, who all worked as professors later. He rose to be the President of the Supreme Court of the UK. He has also been associated with causes such as mental health research.

Apart from being a Liberal Party politician, Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading had also held positions such as those of the chief justice of England and the Viceroy of India, among others. He had initially also been part of his family’s fruit import business. He had eventually received 5 knighthoods.

Born into a family of lawyers and being the daughter of a High Court judge, Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was destined to take up law as a profession. She not only became the fourth female High Court judge but was also the first female Lord Justice of Appeal.

Called a “legal giant,” Brian Leveson is known for chairing an inquiry into the ethics and practices of the British press. Apart from presiding over the Queen’s Bench Division, he had also been the Head of Criminal Justice. He had also served the Liverpool John Moores University as its Chancellor.

Initially a Methodist preacher and a cloth merchant, Norman Birkett later became a successful barrister and even served as the King’s Counsel. A Liberal Party politician, he had also been an MP from Nottingham East. Apart from being a High Court judge, he was also an alternate judge at the Nuremberg Trials

Apart from being a barrister, Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden had served as the Lord Chancellor of England. He is remembered for his contribution to King Henry VIII’s break with the papal authorities, eventually leading to the king being declared the head of the English church.

British-American merchant Samuel Sewall is best remembered for a diary that he had penned and which threw light on the infamous Salem witch trials, which he had judged. He was the only judge to have publicly regretted the decision of the trials. A Harvard alumnus, he initially also managed a printing press.

During his time at Cambridge, G. A. H. Branson was a talented rower. He later rose through the ranks of the legal profession, becoming a successful barrister and eventually the judge of the High Court. He is also known as the grandfather of business tycoon and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.

A qualified jurist, Thomas Hughes was also a renowned author, known for his iconic semi-autobiographical novel Tom Brown’s School Days. He also co-founded the Working Men’s College, as a result of his association with the Christian Socialist movement. He was also a Liberal Party MP, representing Lambeth and Frome.

Sir Guy Green was an English film producer, director, cinematographer, and screenwriter. He is best remembered for his work as a cinematographer in the 1946 British drama film Great Expectations for which he won an Academy Award. In 2002, Guy Green was honored at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

In spite of being blinded in an accident at age 19, John Fielding managed to become a magistrate. The half-brother of author Henry Fielding, he was nicknamed Blind Beak and was able to recognize criminals by their voices. He established the Bow Street Runners and revolutionized the juvenile justice system.

Basil Thomson was a British colonial administrator who served as the chief of Metropolitan Police CID during the First World War. Also a prison governor, Thomson played the key role of arresting wartime spies. Basil Thomson was involved in the arrest of Sir Roger Casement, Mata Hari, and many Indian and Irish nationalists. Basil Thomson was also a well-known novelist.